


a whore's return to cambulac

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Marco Polo (TV)
Genre: F/F, No Smut, Past Relationship(s), Post-Canon, Reunions, shockingly enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 08:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16573121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: Years after her disappearance, Mei Lin returns to Cambulac--dragged in by guards. Her fate is in Chabi's hands again. Fortunately, Chabi is inclined to be merciful.





	a whore's return to cambulac

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alexandria (heartfullofelves)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartfullofelves/gifts).



“Mei Lin got away,” Jingim says.

Kublai hmphs. The fate of a whore is not a priority. Chabi pays more attention, though, and sees something in Jingim’s eyes. He’s holding something back. Lying, maybe. Or perhaps holding some complicated emotion he cannot express. Byamba’s silence speaks the same.

That is all of them, then, that Mei Lin has infected. Kublai and Chabi (and Ahmad) and Jingim and Byamba. She is a pox on this family. It is just as well that she has gone.

This is what Chabi tells herself, that she is happy Mei Lin has gone away.

* * *

 

Mei Lin appears again two years later, dragged into the city by a guard who recognized her in a nearby village. Apparently she was arrested for causing a public disturbance, fighting in a bar. It is beneath her, but she stares sullenly at the ground as the guard explains the situation to the Khan. The guard recognized her because he worked in the capital once and knew of her then. He thought the Khan would want her back. He says this with a slight air of apprehension, unsure whether or not he’s overstepped.

Kublai hmphs again. It is his go-to reaction where Mei Lin is concerned, it seems. He looks over at Chabi, and Chabi says, “You may rise, Mei Lin.”

Mei Lin rises off her knees.

“I’ll put her fate in your hands again,” Kublai says. “She has betrayed us and served us in turn—the scales are balanced.”

Mei Lin looks at Chabi, and Chabi looks back. Kublai may think she is jealous, after he used Mei Lin against her. But that was long ago, and she was never angry at Mei Lin for that. Only at him. “I believe she may be pardoned of any of her crimes,” Chabi says. “But her fate…” She purses her lips. “I must think on it, husband. Give me some time.”

Kublai nods and says, “Detain her. You may be thankful, whore.” As always he uses the term contemptuously. He never scruples to satisfy himself with whores, yet he has no respect for them. There are worse things one might call Mei Lin—murderess and traitor would be a start—or so Chabi thinks. “ _Whore_ ” is just an honest descriptor, and considering Mei Lin’s talent in that area, it might as well be a compliment.

Mei Lin bows. “I am again grateful to her Majesty.”

“Take her away.” Kublai gestures shortly. The court moves on to other matters, and Chabi excuses herself. She really does want to think. She does not bear any malice towards Mei Lin, but the woman is a wild card. And though Mei Lin’s been captured, her daughter is still out in the wind, which means there is little they can hold over her to make her behave.

Turning her loose is the smartest option. She’s caused no trouble since leaving—well, apart from apparently starting a bar brawl in a town miles away. But. But…

But Chabi, in fact, was never happy Mei Lin left after all.

* * *

 

“I am surprised you interceded for me,” Mei Lin says.

She is being kept in a cell, but only very temporarily, and the guards have been instructed to treat her with respect. She looks well, considering. Chabi think she may even have gained a little muscle since they last met. Sitting on the straw of a cell, leaned back against the wall, she looks completely relaxed.

And she raises her eyebrows at Chabi, and Chabi realizes she still has not responded.

“I still have an odd sympathy for you, it seems.”

“I wondered if you would,” Mei Lin says. “Or if you would hate me.”

“I forgave you for trying to kill me long ago.” She will not mention that Mei Lin slept with her husband. She has more dignity than that.

Mei Lin says, “I killed your son.”

Chabi takes a sharp breath. “That boy was not my son.”

“Yet you call him a boy.”

Chabi crosses her arms.

Mei Lin’s eyes gleam. “Not inaccurate, I suppose. He was always childish. He didn’t think about anyone but himself. His own grudge. His own past. As if no one else had pain. And he was very needy. He wanted to believe you loved him. Anything could make him believe it—a touch on his arm, a hand in his hair…”

“Enough.”

Mei Lin says demurely, “I’m sorry.”

“You’re a viper,” Chabi says. She turns away. She should leave. Leave, and cast away this woman. What it is she wants to find here, she doesn’t know.

“I’m sorry.”

She turns back.

“I have been put in charge of your future,” she says. “What should I do with you, Mei Lin?”

“Anything you want.”

“I can’t do _anything_ I’d want. I can’t put you in the harem, for example. My husband would take offense. I could give you to another of my sons…but we have seen how well that turned out with…with the traitor.”

“Anything,” Mei Lin says, “you find reasonable.”

Cast her away. Send her back to the village she came from. Let her go find her daughter, and let them live together in peace, far, far away. Chabi does not need this woman. She does not need the memories this woman stirs. Memories of Ahmad’s quiet smiles. Memories of Mei Lin’s breath in her mouth.

Yet if she could, she’d simply keep Mei Lin for herself. It’s not an option—there’s no official position of an empress’s prostitute. But. If she could.

“You are good at martial arts,” she says. “There might be work for you in that.”

Mei Lin bows and repeats again: she is at Chabi’s disposal.

* * *

 

Chabi has never bothered to visit the training grounds very much. Her husband loves Hundred Eyes—Hundred Eyes was his favorite outcast before the Latin, and even now occupies much firmer grounds. But she has less interest in such matters. She’d lose a fight close-up, yes, but she is an empress and does not need such skills. She can shoot a bow. She trusts the soldiers know how to fight. It is not a woman’s matter.

Now that Mei Lin has been assigned to help with training the new troops, she visits more often.

Mei Lin and Hundred Eyes work separately—their styles do not really mesh. Hundred Eyes tells his students to feel the Tao, to become one with their surroundings and yet apart at once. His style is very instinctive, even though he still teaches rigid forms as well. Mei Lin’s is different. She teaches simple, brutal techniques, then improves on them with various flourishes, or shows her students how the moves mesh, and how to counter them.

Both have one thing in common. They are fond of sparring. They go easy on their students, but not too easy, just enough to let them see what works and what doesn’t. They spar with each other, too, and then they do not go easy.

Chabi and Kublai sit together above the training grounds. Below, the students have formed a circle and Hundred Eyes and Mei Lin stand in the middle. One student calls out the signal to begin.

Mei Lin moves first. She darts in. Hundred Eyes evades her strikes one after another, but he cannot land a hit on her, either—his arm brushes against hers, but she redirects its force. He dances away, brow wrinkling just a little.

“You remind me of your brother,” he says. “Jia Sidao fought similarly.”

She springs forward, feints with one arm and then hits with another, almost penetrating his guard. These feints and random motions fool and distract him somehow, even though he cannot see them. He lands one hit on her shoulder and she flinches away. Then as he comes closer she kicks out and nearly sweeps his feet. For a moment they tangle, then they separate.

“He was better than you, fighting for his life,” Hundred Eyes muses. “But this is play for you. I wonder…”

“My brother and I sparred often,” Mei Lin says. She steps closer as she speaks. “Sometimes I—” She strikes out as she speaks, but he dodges. “—would win, sometimes my brother.” He almost hits her ribs, but she spins away, jarring his elbow as she does so. “But men said he was a fighter, and I am a lover.”

A joke panted in a harsh voice, but there is some truth in it. Chabi would wager Mei Lin has never really loved anyone she’s slept with. But she protected her daughter. She did hard things for her. Jia Sidao mostly protected himself, his power and his pride.

Hundred Eyes wins, in the end, finally throwing Mei Lin to the ground and putting a sandaled foot on her sternum. But it is a long, good fight. Chabi applauds when it is over, and Kublai does too. They look at each other and know they are clapping for different champions.

“You must be careful with that whore,” Kublai mutters to her, as Hundred Eyes pulls Mei Lin out of the dust. “She has betrayed many masters.”

“Then I will be careful,” Chabi says. She smiles, and Kublai lets it drop.

* * *

 

Mei Lin has been settled for some time when Chabi finally caves and summons her to her room. She arrives in her new, practical clothing, made for fighting rather than sex appeal. Her hair is braided tightly back, and there is no paint on her face. She is overall very plain-looking, and Chabi rather likes that. There is no pretense about her.

Of course Chabi is still dressed in the robes of an empress, painted and coiffed. But while she has a right to see Mei Lin trimmed down to the bone, Mei Lin has no right to see that of her. She suspects, when Mei Lin gives her a long look and closes the door behind her, that she sees too much already.

“Do you want me to take my clothes off, your Majesty?” she asks.

Chabi smiles. “Please sit down. I have had tea brought for us.” She gestures to a pot on a small table. Mei Lin kneels beside it and pours: one cup for herself, one cup for Chabi. It is still the early afternoon and not yet time for liquor.

 “Did I call you away from your tasks?” Chabi asks.

Mei Lin says, “My greatest task is to obey your Majesty.”

“The Khan first,” Chabi corrects.

“The Khan first,” Mei Lin agrees, but Chabi can see she doesn’t mean it. She touches Chabi’s hand. “I wondered when you would summon me.”

There is heat in those eyes. The heat of a lover and fighter both. Chabi says, “You are presuming, Mei Lin. Perhaps I wished to speak with a friend.”

Mei Lin tilts her head. “Did you?”

Chabi sips her tea.

“No.”

Mei Lin smiles. And she is as good as Chabi remembered.

Later they get back to the tea again, which is now cold. Chabi says something that has been on her mind for months. “Mei Lin, you meant to come back here.”

Mei Lin takes a sip. “I was dragged by the guard.”

“You meant to be caught. Otherwise—how could a few guards ever capture you? I’ve seen how you fight.” She puts a hand on Mei Lin’s cheek, carelessly affectionate after love. “Besides, since when do you start fights in bars?”

“I might be more of a troublemaker than you thought.”

Chabi gives her a delicate look of disbelief. Mei Lin’s smile falters. She droops.

“You left your daughter,” Chabi says. “I would not have believed that to be possible. Not of you.”

“I left her with a friend. I meant to find her again. But I couldn’t, no matter how I tried.” Mei Lin’s face twists. “I lost my child. I lost everything.”

Chabi says, “If you want, we can help you find her.”

Mei Lin stiffens. “No. Thank you.”

Chabi leans away. She can see Mei Lin is frightened of her now, where she was not a few minutes ago. She did once hold Ling-Ling over Mei Lin’s head. Very well. She does not force her help upon others.

“Why return here?” she asks. “There were other places to go.”

“No,” Mei Lin says, “there were not.”

Chabi might argue, but Mei Lin puts her cup down and kisses her, and the conversation is, for a time, ended.

**Author's Note:**

> What happened with the Crusaders and the war going on and all that shit? I don't know and I don't have to know. That's why I wrote a ~time skip~. Nifty devices.  
> Behind the scenes, Mei Lin and Marco's bromance continues. It's especially strong bc now they both hang out with Hundred Eyes together. It's a trynamic trio. I'm sorry. That was not a good joke.  
> I'm keeping it tho.  
> Anyways this was written for the prompt of Mei Lin and Chabi meeting after season 2, possibly by accident. In this fic it wasn't really accidental at all. So maybe that's a story for another day. Still. Post canon reunions! Don't feel too angsty about Ling-Ling, she's off with Lotus and she and Mei Lin will find each other eventually. They'll be fine.  
> Comments and kudos would be much appreciated :) or head over to talk to me on tumblr at convenientalias.


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